Biographies, biographers, and interesting people

As I write this, I’m sitting at my regular table by the window in the coffee shop where I like to start my day. People laugh when I tell them I can concentrate better there. I see their point. It’s definitely not quiet. There is music playing and people are chatting with friends who they have met for coffee and bakery. Some are gathering for business meetings.

It’s easy for me shut out those sounds though because I don’t need to do anything about them. At home, I’m tuned in to sounds. One of those noises may be something that needs my attention. At the coffee shop, it’s all just background noise, and there are studies showing that some noise can be good for creativity. According to those studies, an environment that’s too quiet can be just as bad as a very noisy one. In fact, there are Apps now with coffee shop background noise to play when you’re working.

I don’t think those Apps would work for me because better concentration is only one reason I like going to the coffee shop. Those morning trips also help me get a better start to my day. When I stay home, I tend to dawdle in the mornings. I eat breakfast and read the paper. I may even turn on the TV to get the morning weather report. I don’t do any of those things on days when I go to the coffee shop. Instead, I get up and get going as if I have a regular job. And when I’m at the coffee shop, I can’t throw in a load of laundry or pick up a few things around the house. All I have to work on is the writing I brought with me. So, I settle down to business, and that’s good because getting started is the hardest part of writing for me. Once I get going on a project, it’s easy to keep the momentum going when I go home to the computer.

Working at the coffee shop also gives me another way of looking at my writing. I never take my computer with me because I don’t want to leave it unattended when I get a refill. So, I write in longhand. That slows me down a bit and that’s exactly what I need when I’m trying to work out some detail or a problem I’m having with the writing.

Of course, the morning shot of caffeine doesn’t hurt. On the other hand, the bakery has consequences. Right now, I’m needing to take off a few pounds and my mornings at the coffee shop probably have a lot to do with that. I figure if I’m taking up a table at a place of business I need to buy more than a cup of coffee. So, for now, I’m limiting myself to a couple mornings a week at the “office.” I save those trips for days when I trying to work out problems with manuscripts.

I admit that there is a limit to how much noise I can tune out. The coffee shop was much quieter when I arrived over an hour ago. There were only a few regulars here then. They were reading, working quietly, and talking softly. But more people have arrived, and the chatter is getting louder. Plus, although I can’t prove it, I think they’ve cranked the music up a few notches. That’s my sign that it’s time to pack up and head home to work at the computer. I’m ready for that transition now because after an hour or so in my “office” I’m on a roll.